Preservation Week is an annual initiative led by the American Library Association that highlights the importance of preserving personal, family, and community collections. Held each spring, it encourages libraries, archives, museums, and individuals to take practical steps toward caring for the materials in their stewardship.
This year’s theme, Is This Thing On?, invites us to take a closer look at the systems and practices we rely on to preserve both physical and digital materials. It’s a prompt to check in: Are our collections accessible? Are they stable? Are we setting them up for long-term use?
At DHPSNY, we’re using Preservation Week to focus on a topic we hear about often during site visits and workshops: digitization and digital preservation. For many organizations, getting started can feel overwhelming. Questions about equipment, file formats, storage, and long-term access can quickly become complicated.
Rather than trying to answer everything at once, we’ll be sharing a series of short posts throughout the week that focus on the key questions to ask before and during a digitization project. Topics will include:
- The difference between digitization and digital preservation
- How your goals shape your approach
- Choosing equipment and settings
- Understanding metadata
- Storage and backup basics
Each post is designed to be a starting point, with links to beginner-friendly resources that can help you explore these topics further.
As part of Preservation Week programming, our colleague Kaitlyn Pettengill at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts will be presenting a free webinar, Helping Patrons Preserve Digital Memories, on Tuesday, April 28 at 2:00 p.m. EDT. This session will focus on building confidence in supporting patrons with their digital preservation questions, including how to explain key concepts in plain language, recognize common risks to digital memory, and suggest practical next steps during reference interactions and public programs.
We’ll also be marking MayDay on May 1, a national day of action focused on emergency preparedness for cultural heritage collections. It’s a reminder that small, practical steps, like backing up digital files or reviewing storage practices, can make a meaningful difference in protecting collections over time.
Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn all week as we share these resources, and take the opportunity to check in on your collections. Even one small step can move your preservation efforts forward.